Game Start
by Becca-Loves-Yuge
Summary: As Atem begins to leave, Anzu reminds him of a promise he made to her. Will it be enough to keep him in their world? Or will she end up making her own promise to him? Oneshot.


Hey guys! This idea came to me when my old rp partner deleted his account. And well, here it is. I'll be finishing LBT soon. I just need to wrap up the last chapter and proof. Maybe Tuesday or Wednesday?

For the beginning of this, I watched the HK subs, so some of the wording might sound weird. I tried to do a mixture of keeping it close to the translation while making it understandable. Anyway, I own nothing.

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__**Game Start**

_The elevator doors opened to reveal a night sky interrupted by an enormous dark void. Purple and black clouds swirled in the hellish emptiness causing a shiver to travel down seventeen year old Anzu Mazaki's spine. She had seen something similar to the scene before her, but she could not put her finger on it. Almost as if her memory of the time had been locked away. "Yugi, look! What's that?" She questioned the youth at her side._

_ "That's not fog," he remarked as he stepped closer to the hell covered dueling platform. Anzu moved behind him, scared to leave him alone and scared to be left alone. "That's the shadow space made by Shadow Games."_

_ Her hand moved up towards her chest, curling in the air and forming a half fist as she struggled to understand what she was witnessing. "In this case, Ryo is…" She trailed off in disbelief. Ryo was injured. He had no place dueling. And if she was correct in her assumption, he was dueling Marik._

_ A small golden light shimmered from Yugi's puzzle and from the corner of her eye she could see the bodily changes of the Pharaoh taking over. "Ryo must be proceeding the game inside," the baritone voice of the Pharaoh caused her to turn towards him. "The opponent must be Marik," he confirmed. _

_ Anzu glanced with worried filled eyes towards the dueling platform. _'Ryo…'

_ "Anzu, you'd better not approach there," he commanded. His sharp eyes on her face as she turned back to him. "Go back to your room."_

_ "No!" She shouted with a shake of her head. She wasn't going to run back to her room like a frightened child and leave him here all alone._

_ "Anzu!" He snapped._

_ "You're always like that!" She retorted. "I'm excluded every time there's an emergency. I'm not the one who knows nothing about Millennium Items. I also know that you've lost your memories, Pharaoh. "_

_ His crimson eyes studied her, looking for any sign of fear. "Anzu…" He couldn't let her get her because of his actions though…_

_ "I wanna give a hand, too!" She begged. Her hand instinctively reached for his as if to emphasis her point. _

_ He looked down. "The Pharaoh's lost memory," he began softly. "What does that mean? I don't understand." He looked towards her. His act of being Yugi clearly not working as she raised a brow in displeasure. He sighed. "No matter what, I wanna take it," he admitted. "Regardless of what kind of memory it is." His unblinking hues caught hers. "But I don't want to put everyone in danger anymore."_

_ "Yugi…" She breathed. She gave his hand a small squeeze. "I want to be there with you. I'm afraid that you'll go into that…" Her eyes flickered towards the void. "That Shadow Space and I'll never see you again." She could see the reserves he still had swirling in his demon eyes. "Please, Yugi. I don't wanna lose you…"_

_ His eyes hardened. "You're not going to lose me. Not now or ever. I'm not going anywhere."_

_ Her hand tightened around his. "Promise me?" She breathed. _

_ She momentarily saw some emotion flash in his eyes. He quickly hid it away before she could examine it, however. "I promise." His voice was firm, giving her no reason to doubt him._

The memory shattered before her eyes as the stone doors opened. Wind and harsh light slapped against everyone in the room. Through her squinted eyes, Anzu could see Atem's form standing before them all. He was leaving. It was really happening. This wasn't a dream or some hallucination.

She had allowed everyone to silence her most of the day and yesterday. She had even silenced herself. Now, she wasn't going to take anymore.

"No!" She screamed, a terrible, piercing noise tearing from her throat. Everyone jumped in surprise, expecting her to be hurt. Atem swirled on his heel, his hands fisted and prepared for his next battle. At seeing Anzu standing amongst them unharmed, everyone relaxed.

"What? Did you break a nail?" Kaiba sneered from the outside of their group.

She paid him no mind as she strode towards Atem. Her eyes never left his, not even when Jounouchi reached out for her shoulder to pull her back. She forcibly shrugged his hand away. Once she stood on the platform with the no longer nameless Pharaoh, she breathed heavily. Her throat was scratchy from her shriek and she worried that anything she said would come out wrong. Therefore, she did the one thing she knew would get her point across.

_**SLAP**_

The room gasped in astonishment as Atem wheeled on his feet, struggling to remain standing after the seemingly unprovoked attacked from the usually civil girl.

"Anzu! What the hell?" Jounouchi called.

"Atem? Are you okay?" Yugi shouted as he moved to join them on the dais.

The Pharaoh rightened himself, his hand only briefly going to his face to feel the damaged for himself. He then held out that same hand towards Yugi. "No, Yugi. I' m fine."

Yugi stopped, his round eyes locked on the two above him, prepared to move the instant Anzu struck out again.

"You promised," she hissed. Her hands fisted at her side, her nails digging into her flesh. "And now you're just gonna walk out of our lives? It's not right!" She bellowed, her voice coarse.

He tilted his head down once in a small nod. "Yes, Anzu-chan. I did promise you that."

Her body jerked as if he had slapped her. Her left arm rose again, preparing for yet another slap. Atem's hand gripped her wrist tightly. She gave out a strangled cry and attempted to slap him with her other hand, only to be blocked in the same fashion. She struggled in his grasp, her body jerking from left to right. Yet, he stayed in one position, his body not giving any slack. She gave another sob as she either tired herself out or gave up; their audience wasn't quite sure which.

The dancer sagged against his body, her face finding its home on his chest, over his unbeating heart. Despite the lack of a heartbeat to pump blood throughout his body, he felt warm. He felt human and real. Not a spirit and not a split personality. Her eyes pinched shut as the realization of '_He really is real…' _struck her again.

Seeing her vulnerable form, Atem released her wrists, her arms falling to be around his shoulders. Sobs of defeat and despair raked the girl's slender body. She knew she needed to dry up and move away from him, make up an excuse about being on her period or something. -_Didn't take my Midol! Sorry! - _Nevertheless, she could not break away from him. And it certainly did not help when she felt his arms fall around her waist…Or when those arms tightened around her…

"I am well aware of the fact that I am breaking my promise, Anzu-chan," he whispered into her ear. "But, this is how it's meant to be."

She shook her head and gave a muffled reply. "S'not fair."

"You're right Anzu, it isn't." He admitted.

She jerked her head back so as to see his face. "Then why can't you just stay? I mean, not for another three thousand years, but just a life span?" She asked, sounding like a petulant child.

One of his hands moved up to her face. His lean fingers brushed her chocolate bangs from her eyes. "Because my life span is over. This was my destiny and now I've completed it."

Another strangled sob tore from her throat as she forcibly returned her head to his chest. "I'm not ready to let you go!" She cried. "I love you!" She didn't care that they had an audience or even that a few gasped at her bold confession. He needed to know. She had wanted to tell him so many times before, but something always came up. "I…I can't let you go without you at least knowing."

She felt his arms constrict around her. He placed his mouth close to her ear and murmured, "Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a little while."

Her bottom lip twitched and pulled away. He was closer to her height in this strange, new body he possessed. "But for how long?"

"Anzu," he crooned. "I want you to live a long and happy life. I want you to go to New York and study dance. I want you to…get married and have a family. I want you to be happy." His voice was low to where even she, standing so close, had to strain to hear him. He was trying to keep their very public moment as private as he could. She wasn't surprised, though. He was a reserved person. "I don't want to see you in the After Life until your natural time has come." He finished.

In a very nice way, he was basically telling her to not do anything stupid_. Don't kill yourself for me, I'm not worth it. You have a life ahead of you. Don't give it up for me._ The dancer turned her eyes down. "I understand," she muttered. She felt his fingertips caress her chin. Once again, she was looking into those twin pools of blood.

"Look me in the eye, Anzu." He demanded.

Her eyes narrowed as she silently accepted his challenge. "I understand," she repeated, louder this time; loud enough for the others to hear her. "I accept your game. But, you better be there when the time comes."

That smirk of his played across his face. "Game start."

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End. Thanks for reading!

~MutantEnemy101


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